This invention relates to the field of orthopedic surgery and more particularly to the area of spinal surgery. The present invention is a variable height vertebral body replacement implant and is designed to reconstruct the spinal column after part or all of a vertebral body has been removed. It consists of an open design, which is initially distracted and placed in the vertebral defect. Bone graft material is then placed in the cage like enclosure. Bone graft can be compacted within the cage as its open portion is completed.